Italian aid-worker kidnapped and 5 injured by Gunmen in Kenya

November 21, 2018 | Brainwave Science

SITUATION

Gunmen kidnapped an Italian aid volunteer in the coastal region of Kilifi in Kenya. The Italian Foreign Ministry confirmed the identity as 23-year-old Silvia Costanza Romano from Milan. She had been working for an NGO, Africa Milele Onlus, operating in Kenya. Silvia was kidnapped in a part of Kenya where there are no shopping malls, at most a little shop where beans are sold. A kidnapping like this is rare in Kilifi.

According to the locals, 5 armed persons threw a firecracker, which lifted the sand. They then fired several times. Following this, they went to Silvia’s house. It is said that they were aware of her presence and the fact no other volunteers were to be there for a few days. 5 persons were injured in this attack. They have been taken to hospital and teams of police officers have been looking for the gunmen. Police are not sure of the motive of the attack.

CHALLENGE

There is a high rate of crime in Kenya, in places such as coastal regions, Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu. The many types of crimes include carjacking, kidnapping, theft, banditry, drug abuse, terrorism, ethnic violence and corruption.

According to Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) of Bureau of Diplomatic Security at the United States Department of State‘s. There is a high threat for people of American and similar backgrounds. Kidnappings have occurred near the Somalia border and are related to extremists or pirates. Although not common, the threat of kidnapping for ransom from criminal gangs remains a risk throughout the country.

Law enforcement and Border Security agencies can greatly benefit by adopting a proactive approach. However, due to the secretive and surprise-attack tactics of the gunmen and other criminals, it becomes very difficult to gather intelligence to preempt attacks. Captured criminals are hardened and extracting information from them is an exceptionally difficult task using conventional interrogative techniques.

To dismantle such criminal organisations, it is important to understand their structure and target the kingpins. Doing this in the traditional manner can take months and years. But there is a need to bring crime down immediately.

WHY ICOGNATIVE

Questioning of captured criminals and suspects is a very time-consuming process which usually yields very limited clues. It involves torture and imprisonment of the person. Law Enforcement agencies are interested in knowing the rank of the criminal in the criminal so that investigation can be carried out in a focused way. DNA, polygraph tests and conventional fingerprinting are applicable to about 2 % of all cases subject to the availability of evidence.

There is a need for a fool-proof and easy to use technology which is applicable to different types of investigation scenarios. Such a technology has been developed by Brainwave Science. It is called iCognative and has applications in not only Law Enforcement and Border Security but also in National Security, Trafficking, Counter-Terrorism and Immigration. This versatile technology eliminates human suffering because the individual being tested is not subjected to torture during interrogation. iCognative scientifically identifies whether certain information is stored in the brain by precisely measuring brainwaves.

Unlike a conventional polygraph, which detects an emotional stress response on the theory that people are more stressed when lying, iCognative only detects whether the information exists within the brain or not. This fully automated system uses a laptop and a specialized wireless headset.

It has an accuracy rate of over 99%. It is reliable to a degree that there are no false positives and no false negatives. Law Enforcement agencies can confidently exonerate innocents and put the guilty ones in prison.

With iCognative, the investigators can determine if the criminal is a member of a certain gang or a criminal organisation. The subjective opinion of the test administrator does not affect the outcome. There is no need for questioning of the testee.

Being applicable in over 85% of criminal and civil cases it can be used across departments to cooperate and solve crime.

A 45-minute iCognative test conducted on the arrested persons can help determine gang affiliation and confirm their involvement in crimes. Brainwave Science has been successful in developing an easy to deploy and portable system.iCognative by Brainwave Science is the can help Kenyan authorities to defeat criminal organisations and bringing the crime rate down.Main Source: Al JazeeraImage Source: Al Jazeera